Count
the Cost
I
still remember that vivid crunching sound, that crunch that every
driver dreads. I also remember the force that immediately followed
that gruesome crunch. The force smashes your head into the headrest
as if an iron cage has been built around your neck and your seat.
Then, the horrid feeling of stomach acid, numb legs, and a rapid
heartbeat makes vomiting the only means of releasing this newly
discovered stress.

I
was a freshman in high school when I was in my first car accident. My
mother and I were violently rear-ended by a young driver who admitted
that he was momentarily distracted by an incoming text message on his
phone. I will never forget the hot tears of frustration when I
discovered that the driver had been texting. Weren’t the lives of
my family members more important than his text?
Granted,
to err is to be human, and thankfully, no one was severely injured
after the crash. However, there were numerous precautions that the
driver could have taken in order to reduce the likelihood of that
crash. Moreover, all of the steps require little to no effort, yet
they can prevent a lifetime of guilt, regret, and pain.
When
I was enrolled in drivers ed as a sixteen-year-old, I learned
the many ways to protect my life and the lives of my passengers while
driving. First, simply keeping my phone out of sight while driving
eliminates the temptation to check notifications. I learned that
keeping conversation to a minimum with the driver and music at
moderate volume also increases the safety of the passengers. Also, my
drivers ed teacher constantly stressed the importance of always
ensuring that every passenger in my vehicle has his or her seatbelt
securely fastened. The driver is always responsible for the safety of
the passenger. Having a mother who always stresses the importance of
wearing a seatbelt- even to the point where she would refuse to leave
the driveway without a fully-buckled car- truly mitigated the
injuries that I sustained during the crash that day.

Furthermore,
in addition to providing me with vital information about actionable
steps that I could implement for my own driver safety, my driver
education teacher made it a priority for all her students to
understand why safety on the road is so imperative. She told me that
the pain that comes from traffic-related deaths impacts so many more
people than just the family members of the victim. By texting while
driving, a driver is sending the message that his or her right to
communicate rapidly is more important than the surrounding drivers’
right to come home safely to their families.

Safe
driving is not a destination. It is a lifestyle that is the product
of thousands of selfless micro-decisions. While these decisions may
seem tedious, remember that lives are at stake every time you enter a
vehicle. No amount of inconvenience trumps the value of a human life;
always count the cost.